Aussies demanding fuel efficiency standards to catch up to Europe, US
The Australian Government’s proposed Fuel Efficiency Standard (FES), a mechanism designed to make lower-emissions hybrid and electric vehicles cheaper and more plentiful, is inching closer to reality.
The Department of Infrastructure and Transport this week revealed it had received about 2700 submissions to a consultation paper published on April 19 and closed-off on May 31, coming from the general public and stakeholder organisations.
About 1200 of these submissions were released publicly today, which “overwhelmingly support” the introduction or imposition (depending on your view) of an FES.
These will be used to inform an impact analysis, with the government promising to detail its preferred FES model before the end of 2023.
When the proposed legislation arrives, it will still need to clear through both houses of parliament before being signed into law.
Australia is one of very few countries of similar economic standing without fuel efficiency standards, which punish car manufacturers should their new vehicle average CO2 emissions exceed an agreed, imposed limit.
In fact more than 85
